This is a story about the life of a college football season in just two games: one was abject heartbreak and the other was extreme joy. The team was the University of Washington this season.
Charles Dickens wrote this famous line in his novel “A Tale of Two Cities”: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”, and the Husky football players experienced these two events in reverse order.
The Huskies finished their 2008 season with a winning record of 0-12. They opened their 2009 season at home against the Louisiana State University Tigers, who were ranked 11th at the time. Having lost 14 straight games over two seasons, the faithful Husky could be forgiven for expecting the worst.
Washington surprised everyone, and especially LSU, by taking the kickoff and marching down the field to score a touchdown. The Huskies warmed to new head coach Steve Sarkisian, who would quickly become known as “Sark” and gain celebrity status among the Western Washington sports community.
At the end of LSU’s season opener, the Huskies won the statistical battle of ball movement, but lost the war, 31-23.
In their next game at home against the Idaho Vandals, the Washington Huskies essentially scored on their first 5 possessions to win on the road, 42-23, and snap their 15-game losing streak.
In their third game of the season, again on their home turf, something near miraculous happened: Washington stunned then-3rd ranked Southern California 16-13 on Erik Folk’s 22-yard field goal with just 3 seconds remaining in the game. final. match.
A 2-1 start made the Huskies the talk of Seattle and even the nation due to Southern Cal’s enormous success (at least 11 BCS bowl wins and appearances for 7 straight years) and high ranking in the polls. .
The Huskies then hit the road for their first road game of the year and collided with a rejuvenated Stanford Cardinal team and their bruised 6-foot-1, 237-pound senior running back Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 200 yards and exposed the Huskies. Huskies. Inept tackling skills.
Washington’s young, talented but inexperienced players couldn’t stop Gerhart, a battering ram who simply ran over the Huskies.
Stanford was a big disappointment for the Huskies following their upset win over Southern Cal, and another road trip to South Bend, Indiana, was coming up to face Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish. This is where our story of a two-game season really begins.
There isn’t a college football program with more history than Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have won 11 national championships, have 12 undefeated seasons and another 10 seasons with at least one loss or tie, have produced more All-Americans than any other school, have produced 7 Heisman Trophy winners, and have the coach with the best . Record in history: Knute Rockne had 105 wins, 12 losses and 5 draws in 13 years while leading the Fighting Irish to 6 national championships.
Washington players who Googled “Notre Dame” could quickly be intimidated by its legend, lore and tradition. When he lines up at middle linebacker on game day, one could easily imagine seeing ghosts coming out of the backfield looking for another conquest.
But this year’s version of the Washington Huskies stuck to reality. As bad as Washington’s tackle was on defense, Notre Dame’s didn’t look much better, and a battle of wills ensued.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Notre Dame invoked their legendary tradition to prevent Jake Locker from scoring on two sneaky attempts by the quarterback from the 1-yard line; the Huskies had to turn the ball over with the score Washington 24 and Notre Dame 19. Had the Huskies scored, they would have gone up 31-19 and perhaps broken Notre Dame’s back.
It was a bitter pill for Jake Locker, Washington’s most talented and versatile player (Husky coaches have said Locker could play 7 different positions on the field), to swallow. He had carried a lousy Washington team practically on his back for two years, and now his offensive line couldn’t move the Irish back even 6 inches.
Then Chris Polk, the Husky’s surprising redshirt freshman running back, appeared to give the Huskies a 30-22 lead with a 6-yard touchdown run with 7:07 remaining, but upon review, it was ruled out at the half-yard line. This was a parody as Polk had noted, but someone forgot to give the official replay a better pair of eyes; he maybe he was a close fan of Notre Dame.
On 1st down from the Notre Dame 1-yard line, Polk lost a yard as the Fighting Irish line held. On second down, Locker passed an incomplete. On third down and 2, Locker scrambled and the Irish line held again. On fourth down, Notre Dame held again but was penalized 1-yard and Washington had another series of downs.
On 1st down Polk ran again and the Irish held again. On 2nd down, Washington was penalized 5 yards. On the second down repeat, Locker passed 5 yards to fullback Paul Homer and the Huskies were again within 1 yard of scoring. On third down, Locker pounced again and again on the Irish line. On fourth down, Washington was penalized 5 yards, and on the repeated fourth down, Washington would settle for a field goal, making it 27–22 for the Huskies.
Unbelievably, the Huskies had 6 chances to score on the Irish from 2 yards or less, and the Irish defense, who hadn’t played well all day, held the line. Polk, who came up short on two of the attempts, would finish the day with a career-high 136 rushing yards for the redshirt freshman.
Notre Dame responded immediately with a touchdown and 2-point conversion to go up 30-27.
With 1:20 left in the game, Locker, the best quarterback to put on a jersey at the University of Washington since Marques Tuiasosopo in 2000, calmly marched his Huskies down the field and Erik Folk hit a 37 field goal. yards to tie the score. game at 30 and send it to overtime.
Tuiasosopo is the son of former NFL defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo and older brother of NFL fullback Zach Tuiasosopo and Seattle Mariners third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo. Jake Locker is in good company.
Notre Dame quickly scored first in overtime to go up 37-30, and then Washington’s offensive line, which had been 6 plays behind in making it, allowed Locker to be sacked for 10 yards, and Locker threw three incompletions. His final pass, a 33-yard pass to the 1-yard line, was stopped by D’Andre Goodwin, who suffered a concussion taking two ferocious hits from Notre Dame defenders on the goal line.
The inglorious finish left Locker, Goodwin, the entire team and the coaching staff with one big case of abject heartbreak. After calmly fighting like the warrior that he is, Locker was so heartbroken and emotional that he couldn’t make it to the postgame press conference.
(Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part series.)
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley